A Step Closer
by Taeng
Summary: Mirai Sentai Timeranger. It's Christmas time and Tatsuya plays a prank on Yuuri, making her consider her feelings towards him. Hints of Tatsuya/Yuuri and Domon/Honami


**This is my sort of Christmas story for this year and this time, I'm doing Timeranger. Also, this story is a hint as what my next multi-chapter one will be about.**

**So, enjoy and happy Christmas.**

**_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Timeranger or the characters. They belong to Toei.**

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><p><em><strong>A Step Closer<strong>_

Tatsuya stood against the wall next to Yuuri's closed door, his hands behind his back, hiding something.

The room was decorated for Christmas. A tree stood in the centre of the room, covered in blue, yellow and silver tinsel, with different coloured baubles. Photographs of the Timerangers also adorned the tree, placed on there by Sion, mistaking Christmas for Tanabata, but despite that, they all thought that the photographs added a nice touch, making the tree feel more personal and special considering it was their first Christmas together.

Domon and Sion were sat on the sofa silently laughing at what Tatsuya had planned, whilst Ayase was stood next to them, his arms folded and he shook his head, knowing exactly what Yuuri's reaction was going to be. Takku was sat on the desk, asleep.

"What do you think Yuuri-san's going to do?" Sion whispered to Domon and Ayase.

Ayase looked at the waiting Tatsuya before turning and looked down at Sion. "Whatever it is, he's going to be feeling it all night."

Domon and Sion grimaced and nodded knowingly, remembering all of the other times Tatsuya had been on the other end of one of Yuuri's attacks, though they couldn't blame her. Tatsuya usually brought these things on himself.

The door knob on Yuuri's door slowly twisted before it opened and Yuuri emerged. In a flash, Tatsuya stood before her, his hands still behind his back.

"Ah, Tatsuya." Yuuri stumbled back a couple of paces in surprise.

Tatsuya didn't respond. Instead he gave her a broad smile and she tilted her head in confusion. Domon and Sion began sniggering again as Ayase watched on.

In a swift motion, Tatsuya moved his hands, moving one above his and Yuuri's heads as he leant down and kissed her.

Ayase, Sion and Domon held their breaths in anticipation.

Yuuri blinked as her mind tried to comprehend what was happening and before her mind had a chance, her body reacted. She pushed Tatsuya away from her. He was still smiling. The other Timerangers, however, were frozen as they recognised the infamous fury of Yuuri begin to take over.

Yuuri frowned and kicked Tatsuya in his groin. He fell to the floor, doubling over in pain as the three other males hissed and looked away.

"Baka!" she shouted before running out of the apartment, the door slamming closed behind her.

Knowing that the coast was clear, Sion ran over to Tatsuya. "Tatsuya-san, are you alright?"

"Yeah." He was still doubled over and his voice came out higher than usual.

"It serves you right," Ayase said. "You really should have known better."

Domon shook his head, though he was trying hard not to laugh. He threw a bag of frozen peas at Tatsuya, who placed them where Yuuri had kicked him and sighed in relief as the pain began to dull.

"What is this?" Sion picked up the object that Tatsuya had dropped. It was a small sprig with long thin branches and small, thick leaves accompanied by white berries.

"Mistletoe," Tatsuya replied, his voice returning to normal as the pain left him.

"What does it do?"

"If two people are caught under it, then they have to kiss," Tatsuya explained to Sion, knowing that the youngest member of the team didn't understand all of Earth's many customs.

"Why?"

Tatsuya shrugged as he pushed himself up before staggering over to sofa and sinking into it. "I don't know, it's just a tradition."

"And you thought using that was a good way to get Yuuri to kiss you?" Domon was laughing again.

Tatsuya smiled sheepishly. "It was worth a shot."

Ayase sat down next to Tatsuya. "She didn't seem to appreciate it though did she," he said in a reprimanding tone.

Tatsuya looked back at the closed door that Yuuri had left through. "No, she didn't."

"Well maybe if you hadn't kissed her on the lips." Domon couldn't stop himself from laughing, clutching at his side.

"Knock it off." Tatsuya threw the bag of frozen peas at Domon, hitting him in the face.

"Oi, those are cold!"

-o-

Yuuri shivered in the cold air, wishing that she'd seen the sense to have brought a thicker jacket, though she hadn't planned on leaving the apartment in the first place. _Stupid Tatsuya_, she thought. _What was he thinking?_ She raised a cold finger to her lips, remembering the feel of his lips against hers. She couldn't deny that it had felt nice, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. But she couldn't understand why he had done it. She had thought that he was passed the point of making stupid comments about her and doing stupid things. She had thought that she was beginning to realise what kind of person he really was, the kind of person she could lo– but no, he had to go and pull of another idiotic stunt.

She shook her head. Her hair blowing around due to the cold wind. She also couldn't understand why she had suddenly gotten so defensive. Like with Tatsuya's attitude, she also thought that she was passed that in regards to him, but now she didn't know.

"Eh, Yuuri-san?"

Yuuri was startled and she lifted her head to see Honami standing in front of her. "Honami-san?"

Honami nodded. "Eh, aren't you going to wrong way?" She pointed towards the building Yuuri had just left.

"Huh?" Yuuri tilted her head in confusion.

"I thought you guys were having a Christmas party tonight."

"Oh, yeah. We are."

Honami then tilted her head. "So what are you doing out here?" She then noticed her attire. "Aren't you cold."

"Mmhm." Yuuri nodded. "I just needed some space to clear my head."

"It must be hard living with a bunch of boys all the time," Honami said. "Do you want to talk about what's troubling you?"

Yuuri paused. Maybe she should tell Honami what was troubling her, though she didn't know her particularly well, but then again, she was a girl and she probably had more experience about these sorts of things, she was after all, with Domon. But she also had a point about constantly being in the presence of men. _No, boys_, she reminded herself. They were too immature at times for her to refer to them as men. "Okay."

As they walked back to the apartment, Yuuri filled Honami in on what had happened with Tatsuya and her reaction, which caused Honami to laugh at Tatsuya's boldness, though she secretly wished that Domon would do something like that with her.

"It's not funny," Yuuri scolded, not impressed with Honami's reaction.

"I'm sorry," Homani replied, trying to stop her laughter. "It's just, I would have liked to have seen that." She put a hand in front of her mouth to try and stop herself from laughing. Once she'd calmed down, she said, "Though I'm not surprised he did that. The way you two act sometimes, people mistakenly think you're a couple."

Yuuri stopped walking at that, remembering the time when both Sion and Domon had assumed that and the embarrassment she had felt.

Seeing that her companion had stopped, Honami sighed as she looked back. Even though she knew they weren't official, she had always sensed that there was something more to Yuuri and Tatsuya's relationship, not that either one of them would admit it. "You know, I'm sure that it was just Tatsuya-san's way of getting a kiss from you. He probably thought that you wouldn't give him one if he asked."

Yuuri lowered her head and nodded. "I might have done," she replied in a meek tone unlike her, which startled Honami.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I don't know why I reacted like I did."

Honami placed a gloved finger on her lips in thought. "Did you like it?" she asked.

Yuuri lifted her head in surprise.

"Well?"

Yuuri nervously bit her lip. She had liked it, more than she would have thought, but if anyone found out... then again, if Honami knew, then maybe she could shine light on her reaction. She nodded, blushing. "Yeah."

Honami smiled, though she had to resist from smiling too much. _I knew it_, she thought. "Maybe you were just surprised. I'm sure that when you left your room you weren't expecting to suddenly be kissed."

Yuuri nodded. "That's true."

"And I'm also guessing that when you began to realise that you liked it, your walls instinctively went up. Like I said, you're surrounded by boys and if they found of that you liked the kiss, it would mean that you liked Tatsuya-san, which would result in a lot of teasing. You did it to protect yourself."

"I did it to protect myself?"

"You find it hard to open up to people, so you act defensively to protect yourself."

Yuuri nodded again, knowing that Honami was right. She looked up at the building they had stopped in front of, realising that it was the building that housed the apartment. "I guess I should apologise."

Honami nodded. "Maybe you should also tell him how you feel. You do like him, don't you?"

Yuuri opened her mouth to reply but then stopped. Did she like Tatsuya like that, she wasn't sure, but there had been times, such as when he demanded that Aberu give her back and how she had desperately called for him, not understanding why. She also remembered how jealous she had felt when they went undercover and she accused him of flirting, when she thought that maybe... but she didn't really understand what she was feeling. She knew she didn't feel the same towards the other three. There was something different about how she felt towards Tatsuya and there wasn't any point in saying anything until she fully understood her own feelings, knew what they meant. Seeing that Honami was waiting for a reply, she shook her head. "I don't even know how much I like him. I think there's something there, but..."

"I understand." Honami nodded knowingly.

The two girls then walked up the steps into the building and then into the apartment to see Tatsuya, Ayase, Domon and Sion waiting for them.

"Honami-san!" Domon ran over to her and pulled her into the room as Yuuri stood sheepishly in the doorway.

"Domon-san, Ayase-san, Sion-san, help me with some things in the kitchen," Honami said, pulling Domon away.

"Why? Everything's ready for the party. We were just waiting for you and Yuuri-san," Sion replied.

"Just get in here," Honami hissed, indicating that they should leave Yuuri and Tatsuya alone.

Ayase caught on to this and dragged Sion away, following Domon and Honami into the kitchen, closing the door.

Tatsuya and Yuuri stood at either ends of the room, unsure of what to say.

Yuuri bit her lip nervously again. "Tatsuya, I'm–"

"I'm sorry!" Tatsuya blurted out, bowing to her.

Yuuri gave him a small smile as she took a couple of steps forward towards him. "I'm the one who should be sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have reacted how I did."

Tatsuya slowly looked up at her, surprised that she was actually apologising. "It's my fault," he said, straightening up. "I shouldn't have–"

"It's okay," she said, cutting him off. "I was just surprised, that's all." She sighed.

Tatsuya nodded. "I just wanted–"

"It's okay," she continued. "You don't have to explain."

"–to make you smile."

Yuuri stopped and looked at him, once again surprised by him. "What?"

"You always look so sad and I thought that it would help to cheer you up. Obviously I was wrong." Tatsuya looked away from her as he admitted his reasons behind the kiss.

Yuuri stared at him. _He did that to make me smile?_ "Tatsuya," she said softly, "if I'd known..."

Tatsuya let out a laugh. "You would have reacted the same." He looked at her and smiled. "But that's okay. It's one of the things that I li–"

"Tatsuya," Yuuri interrupted him, not wanting him to complete his sentence no matter how much she wanted him to finish it and he looked discontented, but also somewhat relieved at her interruption. "I really am sorry, we both made a mistake." She walked over so that she was standing directly in front of him. "I hope I didn't kick you too hard."

Tatsuya shrugged his shoulders. "I have worse," he said, though truthfully, it had been incredibly painful.

"I really am sorry."

"It's alright, really."

She and nodded and blushed slightly before she pushed herself up and was about to kiss his cheek when there was a loud bang, making her jump back, her cheeks flushed red.

Ayase, Domon and Sion were lying in a pile in the doorway of the kitchen, Honami standing over them.

"I told them it was rude to eavesdrop," she said, glaring down at them.

"We weren't eavesdropping," Domon moaned from his position at the bottom of the pile.

"Yeah, we were – hey, it's snowing!" Sion leapt off the top of the pile and rushed over to the window, watching the white flakes fall against the dark sky. The others quickly joined them, Domon rubbing his back.

They all exchanged gleeful looks before grabbing their jackets and rushing out of the apartment.

The snow was falling thick and fast as they ran out into the street. It was already beginning to settle. Sion ran around in excitement, while Domon placed his arm around Honami, smiling down at her as Ayase sat on the steps, watching the falling snow.

With everyone distracted, Yuuri approached Tatsuya and quickly kissed his cheek. "Merry Christmas, Tatsuya," she said, smiling.

"Merry Christmas, Yuuri." Tatsuya, unable to stop smiling at Yuuri's gesture, wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer, surprised that she let him and they both smiled as they watched the snow fall.

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><p><strong>I apologise for the title, but couldn't think of anything else.<strong>

**Once again, happy Christmas.**


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